Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Presidency Richard Nixons Life And Career 20240714

R. Ford prize. It was for coverage of the presidency. The first time anybody had captured both awards in a single year. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities including stanford, harvard, the university of chicago and other institutions abroad. He is the author of three books. We will focus on his third book about Richard Nixon. It is a biography of the 37th president of the United States. It has one best biography of the year, the New York Historical pride in American History. It was a finalist for the pulitzer prize. After the program, these join us in the atrium where this book is for sale and signing. Please give a warm welcome to mr. Farrell and enjoy the program. [applause] john thank you very much. That was terrific. Thank you. Groucho marx used to say after that kind of introduction, i can hardly wait to hear what i have to say. It is a great honor to be at the smithsonian. At a time when history and objective knowledge is under fire, the smithsonian is this great and wonderful asset that we have. Just today, i was reading through the Smithsonian Magazine website and they have this marvelous story about how the anck curator of africanamerican museum in virginia got together with the white curator of the museum of the confederacy. Down satey set down over years. They combined their two for this museum of the civil war enrichment. It is a marvelous story. I think it is a great illustration, a great example of if we forgetgo some of the things i will talk about tonight. Thank you for coming out on a sit at homeou could and watch cspan events similar to that 50 years ago. One of the first questions i got asked repeatedly is why nixon, now . I was accused of being something of an oracle when the book came out after donald trump had been elected, facing off against a special counsel over a breakin at Democratic National headquarters. Declaring war on the press and saying that present is the enemy. Obstructing justice, democrats muttering about impeachment, a friend of mine from the faculty of the university of virginia repacked six years of nixon into two years of trump. It is like nixon speed dating. I dont know how many of you are readers of the great oxford histories of america but they take the revolutionary. Evolutionary pe revolutionary period and the cold war. Got the assignment to do the gilded age. Reconstruction and the gilded age from the 18 symptoms to the 1890s. He had a reaction very similar to mine. He said i have written about a time of rapid change and failed politics. I finished it in a parallel universe. That reminds me of what harry truman said. Saying there is nothing new in human nature. Men dont change, the only thing know is the history you dont know yet. We can be sure that somewhere, the greats perched in hereafter and Richard Nixon is looking up at us here and now. , bob . , you see i told you they would miss me when i am gone. Why nixon now . Selling books is a commercial enterprise. Of thisthe 15th year this is the 15th mark of the nixon presidency. This is about the huge driving at the Democratic National convention in chicago. Vendor ed up to the november of 1968 when nixon was elected. He almost didnt make it. It was one of the closest elections ever. They were profiting from the blunders of his rival, george romney. Mitt romneys dad was the republican frontrunner until he attended to change his position on the vietnam war. He claimed he had been brainwashed by the pentagon. Romney was considered a bit of a lightweight. Eugene Mccarthy Rose to the occasion. Brainwashed . He said a light rents would have been rinse would have been sufficient. It was during that 1968 race that the eve of the next and campaign pulled off a dirty trick that was worse than anything he did at work. In october of that year, Lyndon Johnson announced that he had reached an agreement for peace talks. At the urging of the soviet union, the u. S. Would suspend bombing in southeast asia. Said they would engage in productive talks. Then there was a hitch, the South Vietnamese refused to join the talks. Johnson was curious. You can her this on the johnson tapes that are online. This on the hear this on the johnson tapes that are online. There were tapes urging saigon to drag its feet. A better deal was promised if nixon was elected. Johnson got on the phone and said we can stop the killing out there but they have this new formula to put in there. Wait on nixon. They are killing 400 or 500 nixon. Ing on sin ofnson faced in the fall 2016. He did not have proof of collusion of with a foreign power. Nixon denied it. Information. N the he sealed all the records in an envelope. It became known as the xfiles. Somehow, mysteriously, these things happen. It became a grail for investigative reporters and historians to prove that had known of nixon had known of these activities. You can go to the state Department Historian site with the likely chapter on the incident to see how this was put into play. Nixon always denied a personal role. In his favorite famous interviews with david frost, he insisted he did not have any contact with the South Vietnamese and could not have done that in good conscience. It was not until 2013 when conducting research that i found the notes of his gevo staff, recording nixons orders to keep working on the South Vietnamese. And to do what they could do to monkeywrench the peace initiative. We do not know what would have happened if the Nixon Campaign did not interfere in johnsons initiative. There are many stubborn people thatere was stubbornness the north and South Vietnamese showed toward each other. I am a biographer, not a vietnam war historian. I judge my subjects by what they know knew and did in the time. Given nixons willingness to engage in such a risky plot and the debacle that would go through in vietnam, hundreds of thousands of lives that would be lost, this was more reprehensible than anything that took place in watergate. That was 1968. 1969, 50 years ago, and landed. The landing on the moon. Next spring, we will be using the anniversary of the invasion of cambodia and the deaths in the shooting at kent state. Then comes 1972, just as we are starting to think nasty things about Richard Nixon, he pulls a rabbit out of his hat. Why nixon now . We live in a world that Richard Nixon made. That opening to china, that planet stunning handshake set people on earth on a new course. It was the first great crack of the cold war. That indispensable step toward this integrated World Economy grant them a measure of peace. You can hear him on the tapes talking about this vision. Losing the 1962 race for governor of california, he held the famous last press conference and said you wont have nixon to kick around anymore. He moved to new york. As an international lawyer, he roamed for pepsicola. He would stop and talk to u. S. Diplomats and foreign statesmen. Many of them he knew or would as on International Missions Vice President under eisenhower. Like one great postgraduate seminar. In 1967 in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine, nixon described the world to come. Monolithic communism is doomed. There is a new age coming. The new information is not around a technological revolution. It will be a computer revolution. This edge will require freedom, intellectual nimbleness, not collective farms or five year plans. It was especially suited to the musclebound totalitarian regimes like the ussr. The nations of the pacific rim, japan, singapore, korea would lead the new age but there was one great threat, china. Be brought had to out of their shell and integrated into this new International Economic order. Anduse all that progress the promise of peace that could last a generation could be lost if china saw to solve the problem of a billion hundred hungry restless people. In 1969, almost as soon as he office, they had a border dispute over a godforsaken burbank in siberia. Nixon was prepared and he had the foresight and courage to reach out to mao. That he defined as a time where it would not be working the world but a time free from battles he witnessed in world war ii with the threat of nothing, mr. Spock was urged to only nixon could go to china. There were Domestic Companies as well. Again, in the first week after he was elected, i cant tell you what an impact inmate of the time but there was this Huge Oil Spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in california. Nixon had already been wellplaced on the environmental issue. As an russell train advisor to his campaign. Stroke of his a 10 does not wait for congress to pass a law. He creates this thing called the epa. He follows it up with a National Environmental policy act. For anybody who is ever been in a fight over the Environmental Impact statement. Legislation, the clear act clear air act in 1970. A ban on ocean dumping. Protection of Marine Mammals and coastal zone management, all in the nixon and nutrition administration. He has a very convoluted record on civil rights but there is no denying that he did more to integrate southern schools than any other president for or since. Wasn v. Board of education in 1983. Eisenhower, kennedy and Lyndon Johnson wanted no part of it. They dragged their feet. They have the Justice Department filed some suits. It felt to Richard Nixon to actually get the schools integrated. When he came into office, there were 100 and 6000 africanamerican kids into segregated schools in the south. To1970, that number went 2. 59. Grants went from in 1969 when he came into office, there were 100,600 African American kids in segregated schools in the south. To 2. 5, that number went 9 million. They denied taxexempt status to segregated private academies. Those are the two biggies. Aerovironment and environment and civil rights. He passed tax reform for low income individuals, increased aid to education, increased food stamp budget, the social raisesy costofliving that secured all people from inflation. The war on cancer. He doubled federal funding for the arts. He drafteditle ix, the voting age to 18 and in one of the most little noted accompanist of his administration but if there is something you would hear about , he if you went out west had selfdetermination for indian tribes. He had three biggies that did not get past. Nixoncare. Ed the amended private insurance with government subsidy. Private insurance with government subsidy. Thearack obama asked for this, he would have gotten all of their votes. Because it was called obamacare, by nixon plan was shot down congress. There is a great memo from the next library. It is from that your pegida monahan. E went on to be the ambassador it is a memo to the president and it says the scientists have come up with something worrisome. We are really worried about this thing called climate change. Be an warming could apocalyptic danger to world civilization. 1969. That did third biggie not get past is a family assistance plan. Is the family assistance plan. Guaranteed day care and job training, replacing the welfare system completely. All of this liberal legislation bubbling up from the Nation Administration in conjunction with the democratic congress. This is why many scholars like to look at the nixon years not as some isolated thing by itself but as the third act of great for filament of the new frontier and great society. If you take that time period from 19601972, that is when we really built the modern government structure in society that we have today. E might have seen it coming he was elected to the house in 1946. He instantly made an impression on leadership. When they needed and a committee needed a committee to review this plan, nixon was chosen. He saw the shattered cities of france and germany. He stood amid the ruins of hi where the kids of berlin tried to sell him their fathers were metals. He came from orange county, california. It was conservative. The man who would pluck Richard Nixon from obscurity, sent him to congress where thoroughly against the marshall plan. He saw social, foreign aid as a waste of money. Pouring money down a rabbit hole. That is what they told him. They told him to not count on this. Nixon so what you must do. He must return to his district and 48, or seven 1947 and 1948, he campaigned for the marshall plan. He went to every legion hall, every crowd that would take him. He convinced them. When the Party Primaries were held in 1948, Richard Nixon did not just when the republican nomination, he won the democratic nomination. He wagered everything and he carried the day, he ran unopposed. Yet, this is the story of Richard Nixon. I thought of calling the book and yet. Rebuffing of the few congressman available in the summer of 1948 to begin the red hunt to chase down the soviet spy. That is the forerunner to mccarthyism. Ironies abound. Why nixon now . It is a compelling story. There maybe be no american airport named after him but there are films and books and one hell of an opera. Did you know that the evil empire from star wars was based the nixon and his ration administration . Youngaper was modeled on Richard Nixon. He is our only president to resign in disgrace. It was senator bob dole who anded the u. S. Delegation walked into the white house and caricom dashcam upon jimmy carter, Richard Nixon. There he is, see no evil, hear no evil and evil. It was that same bob dole, terribly wounded in italy in world war ii, so wounded that they wrote on his four head in his own blood not to waste your time this one is gone. He recovered the use of his right arm. He could not perform the most elemental portable task, the handshake. It was bob dole who would tell you that of all the committeemen and delegates and chamberlain and congressmen, there was one man who never neglected to extend his left hand. That was Richard Nixon. Down, hise who broke features contorting and weeping while giving the eulogy at nixons funeral. The original title of the book was going to be Richard Nixon and the american tragedy. Poetic original floors. Cabinet members like Elliott Wilson and Henry Kissinger wrote it. Deeply wrote insecure, nixon acted as if cruel fate singled him out for rejection. It was set of kissinger was that he was a selfmade man who worshiped his creator. [laughter] that was not Richard Nixon. Richard nixon was not an easy man to light. He knew it and it hurt. He had a dickensian childhood. His dad was little and abusive, a miserly tyrant. In of his siblings died childhood. Arthur died of tuberculosis. The pride of the family took years to succumb to tuberculosis. His family split, his mother took him away to care for him. Young dick made it into harvard but his family could not send him. He came to believe it was his stubbornness to give away the family cow, whose milk gave his brothers tuberculosis. His mother would retrieve retreat to the closet to pray. He came to say that he was an unlovable human being. He had a painful insecurity and selfdoubt. He became iago to his own othello. Whispering in his own ear, you are a loathsome creature, no one likes you, you are no good. He campaigned with ferocity and ruthless aggression. In doing so, he became a truly tragic figure. Watergate as the precursor campaigns that helped launch the mccarthy era were infamous. Good that he did as president of the United States, his record on race is checkered and revealing. Whittier, a quaker outpost in Southern California. In college, he was the founder of a social club that remarkably recruited and accepted black members. Justice. Out for racial the local naacp made him an honorary member in the same season that the claim was burning crosses to defeat a referendum on fair employment. When he won his first senate race, one of his great supporters was a guy named any washington, a teammate of Jackie Washington Jackie Robinson at ucla. A year before robinson took the field for the brooklyn dodgers. They held a Victory Party for nixons campaign. He defeated s help andng nixon passing the civil rights bill, king wrote that it is altogether possible that nixon has no racial prejudice. It was not just the public. I came across this old letter to his law partner. Whittier had a black shoeshine man. He sent his goalie daughter to columbia university. When they came to visit washington, nixon had them as guests. It was a most all the southerners. Richard russell, so bright phil bright. Nixon wrote in a private letter that she is a very pretty and intelligent girl. It is your faith in this country to realize that the daughter of couldershop bootshine stand in the highest percentage of her class. King was very impressed with this kind of liberality from nixon but he was a bit weary. There is a danger in such a personality, king wrote. That it will be turned on merely clinical experience. Political expedients. Richard nixon is the most dangerous man in america. His perceptive assessment was born out of a 1960 president ial campaign in which nixon lost to john f. Kennedy. Nixon bungled the first debate. Tomade a rash Promise Campaign in all 50 states. He wasted the last week in and keeping the promise, he could draw large crowds. He balanced the campaign with white southern boats black votes in southern votes with black votes. Shackled and taken to a backwards prison in the middle of the night, his family and friends fearing he would not emerge alive. John and Robert Kennedy get king freed. The Nixon Campaign said no comment. Tokie robinson big tim reconsider begged him to reconsider. I know nixon lower longer. He was nixon no longer. He was close to me, seeking my advice. And yet its like hes never heard of me. Thats why i considered him a moral coward. The kennedys did a better job of walking that line, holding onto majority states to make a difference in a race decided by 113,000 votes. And when nixon ran again in 1968, Jackie Robinson supported nelson rockefeller. When nixon was elected president , the Nixon White House had Jackie Robinson investigated in a dossier compiled by the fbi. Kennedys word the campaign had stolen votes. Jackie kennedy was dick nixons friend. Nixon refused to campaign in massachusetts in the year kennedy ran for reelection. He is the kind of man the country needs, said the young kennedy. Nixon prayed aloud when kennedy dodged death in 1954. Going tove jack is die. Oh, god, dont let him die. The hurt and anger was twice as intense. Nixons daughter said it was the experience of 1960 that left his father with the resolve of never being out cheated again. Nixon took his anger and hatred and hundred, and used it honed it, and used it. He had the ability to tap resentment of race and envy. He could see in his audiences what he felt in himself. Nixon recognized the effects of human character and employed that knowledge to manipulate voters. Gnawrsuaded americans to on grievances and look at each other as enemies. You want to look at the start of the great polarity, look at Richard Nixon. He was the most successful to build a career on the deliberate and contrived polarization of the American People on issues like class and race. His staff wrote memos calling carefullyculated and contrived form of polarization that would occur by telling white americans their rights and taxes were taken to appease a lazy, racial minority. The repercussions happen today. Roger ailes was nixons media advisor. Dont let revisionists tell you watergate was a hoax, that was railroaded nixon was railroaded out of congress. The tapes are online. Just like you can read the molar report. Ueller report. [laughter] boys on the white house staff dont know how to play the game. He would have to coach them himself. Wiretapping. Why dont you put more money on it . If we have to start, we have to start now. Maybe we can get a leading scandal. Scandal . Now youre talking. Nixons legacy. He did not recognize this until the end. In theres no scene politics, law, art, or commerce to match a tormented nixon standing in the east room, only inout his guts, wars do americans experience such mythic moments. No scene in a career of astonishing spectacle was as memorable as nixons farewell to the white house staff that friday morning. It may well have been the most raw, acutely painful, and most unforgettable speech in american political history. His daughter tricia recorded the scene. Do not trip over wires. Stan on name marker. Reach for mamas hand. Hold it. Applause. Daddy is speaking. Tears running down cheeks. Must not look. She wrote in her diary. The real nixon being revealed as only he could reveal himself. By speaking from the heart, people would know daddy. Its not too late. One will ever write a book about my mother, he said. I guess all you would say this about your mother. My mother was a saint. I think of her two boys dying of tuberculosis. Seeing each one of them die. And when they die, it was like one of their own. Shell have no books written about her, yet she was a saint. Proof of his astonishing resilience. We think when someone dear to us dies, when we lose an election, when we suffer defeat, all has ended. Not true. Its only a beginning, always. The young must know it. The old must know it. It must always sustain us because greatness comes and you are really tested when you take some knocks, some disappointment. When sadness comes, because only if youve been in the deepest value, youll never know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. There was a faded doom about the man, kissinger thought. Nixon,end for richard came words as wise as ever spoken. Rich and selfknowledge purchased at a price. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you dont win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. Dick and pat made their way out to the south lawn, shook hands with the Vice President , and climbed the steps of the residential helicopter. Wave, asne defensive if toward off grief, and then thrusted his arms skyward and entered the helicopter. Army one lifted from the lawn, the National Mall dimmed in a summer mornings haze. Boulevards, halls, corridors, with dreams, scheming with amorous ambition and revelry and purpose. The chopper sort over statues of heroes and monuments to great statesmen, who ranked with such american audacity, he came so near only to fail. To no oned, pat said in particular. He spent the flight to california alone, each in his or her cabin on air force one. The president had a cocktail. Missouri,o moreover the resignation took effect. Why nixon now . Its essential that we learn from nixons parting words. Todays hate and polarization are more than just political phenomenon. They threatened the american ideal. And that ideal is that a selfgoverning people, varied in National Origin and faith and the color of their skins, can still be, like Ronald Reagan told us, as John Winthrop preached, as they sailed towards massachusetts bay, the city upon a hill. That the new world be could not only shines for others among virtues of liberty and equality, but demonstrates the nations are diverse and these ideals are achievable. That is the challenge americans face. If we lose this battle in this country with this wealth, we surrender all the hard won gains weve made in equality, gender, race, sexual orientations, and its difficult to see how other democracies resist hate there. I would argue thats the meaning of Barack Obamas nobel prize. Get into anything particularly wonderful to qualify for it except win an election. It wasnt awarded to him. It was awarded to us. Bravo. Keep inspiring us. Keep being america. We were that people then emily can still be. But we need to work at it. We need to be exceptional. We are not predestined to succeed. America is an extremity. Experiments an experiment. Experiments can fail. Nothing but the first act. The great drama has closed. John adams said you cannot guarantee success, but we can do something better. We can deserve it. Our exceptionalism doesnt guarantee we will make the wrong choi the right choice. In the wrong choice is steep. Quite heavy stuff for an old newspaperman. One thing historians get to do is quote abraham lincoln, sort of like getting your union card. [laughter] war,38, for seeing civil lincoln told his countrymen, of all the armies in asia, europe, and africa combined, they could not be forced to take a drink from the ohio river. If construction destruction be our lot, we must be the finisher. As a nation of freemen, we will live alltime or died by suicide. Nixon taught us that, teaches us that now. Why nixon now . Its always beginning always now. Invited toar, i was lecture at vanderbilt and a college in florida. Mary washington, university of chicago, brandeis, mcgill, university of texas. Its reassuring, having toured these campuses and engaging in debate with this generation, that millennials have it figured out long before parkland. I saw their values were good, fair, and generous. So i submit to give them a chance to not tear themselves apart, to not die by suicide or succumb to hatred. We always rally to meet outside threats. Wars, natural disasters, terrorist attacks. My generation proved that. But as lincoln warns us, the threat comes not from afar, but from ourselves. Others may hate you. But if you hate them, thats when you destroy yourself. And thats the real answer to the question, why nixon now . So, we have some time for questions. I can go on forever. His life is immensely rich. And we will have someone with a boom mic, so cspan can get everything down. And here he is. [applause] did nixon ever have a friend . Did nixon ever have a friend . He had one famous friend, and he was in the presidency. Everybody pretty much agreed the relationship was like this. That they would go out on bbs boat, and he would say nothing and nixon would say nothing and they would turn around and come back two hours later and get off the boat. Becausen valued him nixon had this amazing brain. Because he was so personally awkward, almost everything had to be rehearsed. He would go through these weeklong rehearsals. I was toldstory about after he left the presidency and was making his comeback, he brought a bunch of reporters to his home in new jersey and after they sat down he stoodhinese food, up and with no notes, gave this amazing Tour De Force about the world situation and the american political situation. And they were astonished. They were amazed at this brain. One of the guys had to go to the bathroom. As they were walking down the with there was a table one of nixons famous yellow legal pads, which he wrote his thoughts on. And word for word, was the speech they just heard, which they thought was spontaneous at the table. That was nixons way of doing things. He would sit in an armchair with his yellow legal pad, tens of thousands of pages at the nixon library. What he wanted was quiet. His brother told me one of the things that nixon loved was the sea. Why did nixon love the beach so much . White noise. The waves, create this barrier of Everything Else that amazing brain could keep taking. Ticking. So, his closest friend was probably pat, and that was a rocky relationship. His relationship with his daughters was sometimes strained. He was an awkward human being, somewhat peculiar. Makes theinger argument that a large part of the allegiance of people for nixons because they identify these qualities in themselves in him. They feel sorry for him and they sympathize and empathize for him. And i have to say as i wrote the book, i did too. [inaudible] jack how would i compare the moral character of nixon and trump . I think its safe to say now that were not going to see a comparative record of accomplishment at the end of the trump era unless something miraculous happens that we dont know about. Again, as i wrote the book, there were always surprises that come to you. And the surprise to me is that its an amazing record of accomplishment that nixon left behind. Said in myebody speech, nixon was all about expedients. He really was there really was not too much he had locked in his heart as a guiding principle. Pappy cannon said the ideological buffet of the Nixon Administration was like a smorgasbord. Took a little bit of conservative here, liberal here, didnt make a difference. He was not an ideologue. Admirableeat moral character that nixon had, that i think, is his amazing devotion to peace. Young soldieris in world war ii, young sailor in world war ii, served in the same South Pacific field, solomon islands, as jfk, joe mccarthy, ben bradlee and John Mitchell and Richard Nixon all served them there at the same time. Never knew each other. But he came home like many of the guys from World War Two and he had this great devotion to his mother, who was a quaker. His greatermined moral characteristic he had was this drive for peace and i dont see it in the current president. But its early yet. President s have a way of surprising us when the diaries and the books come out later, but nixon definitely wanted to moscowome his chinese, peace plan and lay that on his mothers grave. See mom . See what ive done. Sure. Man,w could such a flawed with such a flawed character, accomplish so much . How could such a flawed man with such a flawed character accomplish so much . If you think about his story, he was amazing. He comes back from more in 1946 from war in 1946 and nobody knows his name, except from of you in orange county, who say he will be the sacrificial goat against this six term new deal congressman. And nixon goes out and the governor doesnt know him. The two senators dont know him. The Los Angeles Times have no idea who he is. And he wins that race. In six years, hes president of the United States. Its an astonishing meteor cries, and eight years after that, hes ready for president. So, he was smart. He was shrewd. He had that great ability, i tonk to, as i said, recognize the grievance in his audience, see it in himself, and then make that connection because they shared it. It might not have been over the same thing, but that feeling of resentment. Did focus his mind like, what he called his structure of peace. The used to hold up his hand and say, the United States, russia, china, japan, europe. Thats the structure of peace. Thats the way we keep the peace in 20 years. And we kept it for 50. So he did have vision. Amazing resilience. Comes back, loses to kennedy. Comes back, loses the 96 e2 election. Makes a great his political comeback ever and gets elected by 113,000 votes im sorry, 500,000 votes. And then goes on to win one of the greatest landslides ever. Plummets again in watergate. Uneasy some kind of peace with himself, enough that people give him credit as an elder statement in his later years. But there was just no holding him down. He just had that amazing grit. Sure. You obviously interviewed many people who dealt with him throughout his life. Is there anyone interview or one statement by one of these people that stands out to you when you were doing your research . Jack is there any one statement or one interview that i did that stood out when i did the research . With all my biographical characters, there comes a moment, months or years into the process, where all of a sudden you see this shot across the stage. And you say wait a minute. And you walk over there and you follow them, and you say thats him. I finally got a glimpse of the real him. And that moment came when i interviewed his brother, ed, who was a geologist, many years younger than dick, and lived outside of seattle. But looked almost the same as him and carried many of the same family traits, and some of the same resentments. He must have been 84 or something at the time. We had this marvelous discussion. And he said do you want to get some lunch . I, of course, said sure. Do you have a restaurant around here . I would be glad to have the company pick it up. He said ah, come on. He was a pilot. Pilots always have hot cars. Zipget in this pontiac, we onto the exit going 80 miles per hour. And he says next exit, burger king. That was the moment that i really got a sense for who dick was as a young man. Especially since the physical it was like i was talking to nixon himself. Bit. Ck there a little [inaudible] hate why did Eisenhower Nixon . Why did he keep him . Maybe with as, side of churchill or franken roosevelt, eisenhower was one of the great titans of world war ii. And then he comes home and wins the presidency. And hes told by his advisors they need somebody young. It would be nice to have somebody from the Younger Generation who fought the war. California would be great. Why dont we pick this young kid, nixon . It was never really a love affair. It was more like an arranged marriage by the Republican Party. And i didnt really not like nixon as much as i sort of ignored him because nixon was staff. Eisenhower had liberated europe. He was used to palling around with churchill. He knew what young lieutenant commanders were for. They were to take this telegram to that office over there. And nixon, having gotten this far, and having these wonderful assignments like welcome churchill when he arrives, and sit in the car with him when he comes back, is just gaga. He wanted eisenhowers approval. And he couldnt get it. And that brought out a lot of nixons worst traits. His nervousness, his drinking. And eisenhower then began to look at him, made him uncomfortable to be around. So given the chance to get rid of him after four years, eisenhower tried, but nixons base in the party was too strong. But that was so unfair because ike had ahad his heart attack in the first term and if you wrote a script of how a Vice President should behave, nixon ticked every one of those points of. He never took over the oval office. He went to their office. He was respectful, he was diligent. To eisenhower called him up pennsylvania afterwards and says thanks a lot. How would you like to not be Vice President next term . When you already have this fragile personality, that thing drove him nuts. Becausend, ike kept him he was known as the taft winning taft wing of the Republican Party. Nixon had done the famous checker speech in 1952 and made a name for himself. Eisenhower didnt have the guts to kick him off the ticket. Given the way he had to leave office, how did nixon interact with president s who came after him before he died . Jack given the way he had to leave office, how did nixon interact with president s who came after him . Seriously was taken on Foreign Affairs. To writech he liked these long memos and pass them around about whos going to win the nomination next time out, and stuff like that. He was never that good at that. George schulz told me he was never that good on Foreign Affairs either. [laughter] jack but he had enough of a reputation that residents listened. Backn knew him going way and reagan was too smart a man to know that nixon thought he was stupid. The reagan so reagan took him with a grain of salt. Him. Took there was this amazing letter talking about how nixon spoiled that beautiful white house. Talk toid they did nixon. And it was at a crucial time, of kept saying to ourselves lets not get carried away. It would be prudent to get carried away and think this guy is going to be a hero with everything we know about the soviet union. Bush was an optimist, schulz was an optimist, and they wanted to see what would happen after the wall fell. No, gorbachev was just another stalin in a velvet glove. So, he was wrong on that one. And then he got in a pitting. Atch pissing match and there was an oped, saying bush was mishandling this important relationship. If you look at the obituaries after george bush died, every one of them was led by president bush, who masterfully handled the fall of the iron curtain. So, nixon was wrong on that one. Bill clinton talked to him a lot, which was strange, considering that no two politicians could have ever been more opposite. Beenillary, of course, had on the staff of the Judiciary Committee devoted to impeach him. But clinton respected him and listened to him. Hexon was sort of didnt despair about the fact he didnt have a great deal of influence in his exile years. But he was a realist enough to know that he was not at that point, he didnt even reach the class of kissinger, who really did have all their ears and probably did have much more influential input. Yes, sir . In light of all you learned, if you could interview Richard Nixon, what question would you most like to ask him . [laughter] wouldwhat one question i most like to ask him, other than why didnt you bring the tape . [laughter] i am fascinated when i do a biography about the formative years. People tell me i write too much about the early life rather than the presidency. If i could take a walk with Richard Nixon, i would probably say tell me about the lemon firm. How did you feel when your father would not get rid of the cow . Arthurs lessons are , jfks historian left a marvelous collection at the of a diary. Ry kissingers said, you have to understand this amazingly tortured shakespearean personality and you have to feel empathy for it. The thing that struck me, they are not happy with me now because they did not like the book, but the thing that struck me when i spoke with the old nixon hands is those that are still around, is that there is such devotion, love, and empathy. They understood this guy. They understood that he rose above all of the twisted facets of his character and still managed to do great things when the whole world including a liberal, democratic press, was against him. I could ever get Richard Nixon to talk about of course he recognized it in himself to address that question, that is the one i would ask. The lady in the back. Go ahead. [indiscernible] jack the question is given how awful the affair was and the stakes that were in play in 1968, would he have lost in 1972 if it had come out . And why did it not come out . Question directly it is because Lyndon Johnson decided that if he let the country know three days before the election that this was going on that not only with the country turn on income it possibly would turn on johnson because johnson was looking his opponents campaign and most definitely come it would turn on South Vietnam for supposedly being our ally but snubbing us when we asked it to do this diplomatic short. Huber humphrey new and he chose not to reveal it as well. Almost immediately, if you were a washington audience, in a thing is secret and it began to leak. It leaked out in little bits. She was radioactive. The odor white rights a little and a few years later, another wrote about it in a book about next him. And little bits of it had come out on us so that when he had the famous interview with david frost, frost directly asks him did you know what she was doing . And the big break comes just after the turnofthecentury when Lady Bird Johnson decides, brilliantly decides, that full disclosure is the best thing she can do. So she opens everything. In texas. All of the johnson tapes that were supposed to be sealed for 50 years were opened. The xfiles is opened. A muchjohnson becomes more human character. Intnam begins to fade peoples memories and they remember the Civil Rights Movement and Civil Rights Act and in all of the readings of the president like the ones that cspan does, you find Lyndon Johnson opening up. And harry truman. Miredhing next sin is down in the low 20s in the rankings of american president s. Of thisoughout all time, and tapes are sitting there like a ticking time bombs as well as his papers. Nixon the next in foundation finally decided it could not store the papers anymore, give them to the government. As ae guy paging great biographer says, turn every page. I came across these notes. There were two great white whale and one wasistory watergate and the other was this affair. When you go to ocean city in the summertime, when we did, you set up a card table and dropped a 1200 piece jigsaw pill jigsaw puzzle and on rainy days or with coffee in the morning, or at night, everyone goes by and tries to put in a few pieces of the puzzle. It was my privilege to get this piece. I lived through the vietnam war. That nixon,pression right after the war, used it as a campaign [indiscernible]. Is that correct . Vietnamhad to address but the question is did next and drag out the vietnam war for his own political purposes . And i really had to study it. The best that can be said for next and is that he and kissinger coldly, immediately identified vietnam as a backwater and for all of the money and lives being spent there, was not as important as the big game of thrones he was playing with beijing and moscow. Tampll he wanted to do was it down. Probably towards the end of his term, they did make some cold calculations as to when is the best time to announce that peace is at hand. When do we need to make sacrifices . A half beforend the election, he and kissinger announced the north Vietnamese Army would be able to stay in South Vietnam as part of a piece deal. I dont know why but we americans never put two and two together and said that is not is a but you know, that recipe for what happened. A complete catastrophe. Thinkn the flip side, i being a historian is humbling and people ask you what historians in 50 years will x, y, z. Ut and i think vietnam is fading already. Its historical importance. Whereas this technological revolution that nixon spoke rightsnd the Civil Movement and the rights of women and all the things that have happened in the last century are so much more of more important to future historians then the vietnam war. People will argue to this day time in those five years and in that time, we allowed indonesia, korea, taiwan, japan to become the asian tigers and bring the structure of peace to the world. I am sure that would be nixons argument if he were alive today. But, we have to ask in this is the question i came down to which is and a gall had the same issue with and degaul had the same issue with algeria when he went on the television and told the french people, we lost. It is not my fault. We are bringing the guy home. It took a long time but they did it. And there is no reason why Richard Nixon, the great , could see what was happening in beijing and tokyo and taiwan could not have gone on television and said it is a democratic war. Johnson has screwed this up. We are bringing home the troops because i cannot find an objective historian who thinks the deal we ended up getting was anything better than what we could have gotten in nixons first months of office. That is it . Anybody else . In the back. Speaking of the tapes, it is impossible not to cringe when you pierce some of the remarks from nixon regarding antisemitism. I was just wondering how is it [indiscernible] how do you reconcile the antisemitic comments on the tapes with the fact that nixon employed on his staff people like kissinger, arthur burns was named Federal Reserve chairman, len gorman, a longtime advisor . And bill safire was his speechwriter. Nixons sort of addresses this on the tapes. And he does it also with the case of gay americans. And he basically says that if americanronixon, gay or pronixon jewishamerican, it is ok. What really drove him crazy was not so much i mean, it seems to me that the antisemitism was something that came down to him from his father in particular and his time in rural Southern California where antisemitism was quite prevalent. Was an antiseminar along the lines of nixon and some of the things that he said were ugly if not uglier. Again, in nixons case, expediency wins. And if you were valuable to him somethingnger, it was easily put aside. It was not that deep no matter how ugly the comments are. Hatred of that deep a jews that he would not use them to great effect and put them in the most powerful positions in the government and the economy. Does that answer the question . Can you talk a little bit about nixon and his ability to reach across the aisle to accomplish his domestic agenda . I feel we live in a time when no one reaches across the aisle anymore and he had an art to it. Of you spoke of his kind friendship with moynahan. How deep did it go . How did he get his robust domestic agenda passed . And what have we lost . Well, basically the question is, how did rich and reach across the aisle . And what has changed since then that keeps us stuck in this poll polarized position politically . Partyaid, the republican was split with a conservative wing of the Republican Party. Or was also a liberal wing of the Republican Party at the time, hard as that may seem right now to think about. Nelson rockefeller. Hampshire,ew vermont, and maine. You had a lot of moderate republicans. Made itl rights act through the house of representatives on liberal democrats and liberal republican votes outnumbering southern democratic conservative votes. Andhere were already that was during Lyndon Johnsons administration. So there were already these patterns of conservative republicans, half of the Republican Party, joining with half of the democratic already, southern democrats, and being a conservative bloc. Outside of that, you had a tremendous amount of room for politicians as you say to reach across the aisle. At this point, i worked at the National Journal about 10 years ago and we did a survey every year about polar already. When we first did the survey, there were about 10 or 12, 15 republicans who voted to the the most conservative democrat. And there were 10 or 12 or 15 democrats that voted to the right of the most liberal republican. By the time i got around to doing it in the 1990s, there were zero. And there are a lot of reasons for that. Part of that was the civil rights and the effect that the movement had on the south and the south becoming solid for the republicans. Brand ofgingrichs take no prisoners campaigning, the rise of fox news, seeking to make a buck by dividing people, talk radio there are many reasons why. My next book will be senator edward kennedy. This was a guy who for all of his flaws was a master at reaching across the aisle. Even into the 1990s and early 2000. It is not that it cannot be done. I bet that if there was something that the tea party thatlicans would forget or the talkshow republicans would enoughabout, there are a reasonable republican senators right now that they could easily pass a bill on infrastructure or something. But everything gets turned into an us versus them and it will take some kind of lightning bolt to shatter that up i believe. I am not smart enough to say what that will be. Yes maam. Could you talk about the invasion of cambodia and the aftermath . Jack the question is about the invasion of cambodia. 1970, having committed himself to a policy of a very slow withdraw from vietnam, nixon and kissinger decide that the South Vietnamese will not be able to make it in the long run if the north vietnamese are allowed to continue to operate with impunity from a strip of land along the cambodian border. This is nothing new. Johnson had faced it. There had been some isolated calming and some u. S. Special ops missions into that area. This decisionike by nixon to go ahead and send the South Vietnamese army with the American Army along with them crossing cambodia. He believed that this was a way to safeguard vietnam as a nation vietnamization and eventually get us out, peace with honor. Most everybody to the left of Barry Goldwater in the u. S. Just saw oh my god, now we are invading another country. One of the saddest bits of congressional testimony ever the hearingser had for secretary of state. He was asked about what happened with cambodia. And he said well, you know, we just did not foresee that this would set a row of dominoes in motion that would end up with the khmer rouge coming into sacrificesll of the that were made so real in the movie, the killing field. And it is a chilling bit of testimony and a good lesson for any statesman of the unintended consequences of your actions that they should be factored in and not just that you probably could argue that george w. Bush should have gotten that lesson before he invaded iraq. Rumsfeld used to say the things you do not know whatever that phrase was should be very modest and humble about what you do not know when you are making life and death decisions like that. [indiscernible] jack in cambodia . Yes, i was a High School Senior and the campuses exploded. Kent state happened. In the senate, you had the first funds resolution the democratict caucus and then moving towards passage in the senate. Putting pressure on that and so he knows he has to cut a deal. Also wasof course, it so stressful for nixon that he in the middleous the night to the Lincoln Memorial to meet with the kids that are protesting. His limousinento and drives up to capitol hill. He puts his valet in the speakers chair and allows him to bang the gavel. And he meets with the cleaning ladies and talks to them about his mother and the bible. It was incredibly stressful and kind of scary to read in bob hallorans diary from those days that they believed the president of the United States was coming close to a nervous breakdown. Was there a president or any other that nixon particularly admired . Was there another the president nicks and particularly admired is the question. President s get to put up portraits in the cabinet room to their presence they admired. One was teddy roosevelt. He was the man in the arena and nixon always saw himself as a fighter in the arena. Eisenhower, his idol. And another was Woodrow Wilson. His mother had been a great admirer of Woodrow Wilson as a quaker. What he had done with the league of nations. To drawn sought inspiration from Woodrow Wilson all of his life. ,nd in fact, on his tombstone let me see if i can get it right. I think it says the greatest can bestow istory the title of peacemaker. I urge you if you happen to be in Southern California to see it because it is a spectacular they have redone the whole thing. They kept the objective, the top watergate a la ray. And they have added a lot about vietnam. It is really worth the trip. And there if you go to the National Portrait gallery, the the portrait of nixon which is by, not will rogers, but norman rockwell. Thank you. And it famous painting is about this big. They have blown it up to about 20 by 80. As you walk up the drive, there is no them by rockwell staring at you as you go in. Thank you very much for coming out, folks. [applause] tofrom George Washington george w. Bush come every sunday at 8 00 p. M. And midnight east turn, we feature the presidency. A weekly series exploring the president s, their politics, policies, and legacies. You are watching American History tv, all we can come every weekend, on cspan3. American history tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Go to cspan store. Org to see what is new for American History tv. Check out all of the cspan products. The contingency sample is down. It is a little difficult to dig through butt is a very soft surface here and there, when i use the a veryor, i run into hard surface. But it appears to be very a very cohesive material of the same sort. I will try to get a rock in here. And now, youre watching American History tv. Every weekend beginning at on saturday at 8 00, we bring you 48 hours of unique programming exploring the past of our nation. American history tv is only available on cspan3. I believe he is setting up the flag now. This is houston. Radio check, over . Roger, houston, loud and clear. I can hear you, houston. Roger, buzz. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend featuring using him towards come archival films, and programs on the presidency. The civil war and more. Here is clip from a recent program. In the last couple of generations, it is andrew johnson, the defender of the constitution. That is how people have chosen to defend him or portray him. And it is lincoln, if you do read popular history. He had issues with the constitution. And the like. Rpus if you take a look at how both talked about the constitution, and their actions rather presidency, or even throughout their political lives lincoln is the one who is more the defender of the constitution. And does not want to amend it. Thingseing forced to do he does not want to do because of the constitution. Like forcing fremont to repeal its proclamation. Says drew johnson who who is not doing things that the constitution says he should be doing explicitly like executing the law passed by congress. Listen to lectures in history on the go by streaming our podcast anywhere, anytime. You are watching American History tv only on cspan3. This is about the ghost family of world war ii. Not a lot of people know about it. A part of itr was and that is why it is a combination of getting to know my Family History and telling the story about these men who never got recognized. That is why i really wanted to do this project and get that story out there. What is the ghost army . Tanks,e it used d quite fake radio messages and sonic sound,